Fundacje zakładane przez osoby prawne Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce a fundacje pobożne
Foundations Established by Juridical Persons of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland and Pious Foundations

Summary/Abstract: The article looks into the legal status of foundations established by ecclesiastical juridical persons, referred to in Article 26 of the 1993 Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland, and Article 58 of the Act of 17 May 1989 on the Relationship of the State to the Roman Catholic Church in the Republic of Poland (ecclesiastical foundations) and pious foundations, referred to in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Besides, the article addresses the impact of the Polish legal system and of canon law on the functioning of the aforesaid foundations. A closer look at the problem in question leads to a conclusion that foundations established by juridical persons of the Roman Catholic Church in the Polish state enjoy the same legal status as other foundations and are fully subject to the rules and regulations applicable in the Republic of Poland, in particular the Foundations Act which should be applied directly and not per analogiam, yet allowing for the modifications arising from Article 58 of the Act on the Relationship of the State to the Roman Catholic Church in the Republic of Poland, which are regarded as the lex specialis. At the same time, the legal position of these foundations does not fall within the provisions of canon law, in particular Canons 113-123 and 1299-1310 CCL (except for the provisions on ecclesiastical supervision), unless their content is incorporated into the foundation charter. Therefore, ecclesiastical foundations do not need to be foundations within the meaning of canon law. Polish law lacks any direct references to canon law with regard to the activities of ecclesiastical foundations. Likewise, the provisions of Article 26 of the Concordat and Article 58 of the Foundations Act do not offer any implicit reference to canon law by their "incompleteness", except for the regulations governing ecclesiastical supervision over such foundations.

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